Sony to Double LCD TV Production in Slovakia

On April 28, Sony announced that it will double the output of LCD TV sets from its plant in Slovakia located in the city of Nitra about 100km (62 miles) from Bratislava, Slovakia’s capital. Howard Stringer lauded the Nitra factory as “the newest and largest television factory in the world” during the opening ceremony. The Nitra factory sits on 60,000 square meters in an industrial park on the outskirts of Nitra. Slovakia is expected to join the eurozone at the beginning of 2009 and is located strategically very near the markets it will serve.

The Nitra plant had a previous capacity of two million LCD TV units per year but that will increase to four million this year. The number of employees will grow about 50% from about 2,300 to 3,500. According to Sony, demand for its BRAVIA line of LCD TVs is growing rapidly in Europe. Sony serves the European LCD TV market with its two factories: one in Nitra and one in Barcelona, Spain. To add capacity and to hire more people, Sony’s total investment in the plan was originally JPY11 billion but now that has ballooned to JPY13 billion (US$124 million).